


Air It Out

by rebeccastceir



Series: Playing House [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hanzo Shimada is Bad at Feelings, Hanzo doesn't 'get' this undercover business, Jesse is GREAT at feelings, M/M, Playing Pretend, That's okay, because ninjas should be great at it, cuz Jesse's there to help, kind of the kid-way, look at the rating we're not doing that today, not a sexy way, which I'm kind of fudging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 23:40:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30063324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebeccastceir/pseuds/rebeccastceir
Summary: “’The Importance of Playing House in Childhood Development’?” Hanzo almost tossed the tablet to the other side of the room. “Aw, Hannybee,” Jesse grinned. “You readin’ up on what I said?”“No!” Hanzo yelped, trying not to blush. And then, knowing it was useless, admitted sheepishly, “Yes?” He looked down at their hands. “What if we mess it - this - up?”"Well, that's the great thing aboutplay, sugar," Jesse grinned. "As long as we're both havin' fun, wecan'tdo it wrong."
Relationships: Jesse McCree/Hanzo Shimada, McHanzo
Series: Playing House [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2151030
Comments: 8
Kudos: 29





	Air It Out

“Han! I’m home!” Jesse called.

Hanzo barely looked up from his tablet.

Jesse dropped the grocery bags on the kitchen counter and wandered into the living room - it was taking shape now; easy improvements had made a big difference, and were giving them motivation to continue - and found Hanzo on the couch. “There you are, Hannybee!” Jesse grinned, flopping down with his head in Hanzo’s lap.

“I dislike that one,” Hanzo grunted, otherwise paying him no mind.

“Yeah, but it’s fun to say,” Jesse answered contentedly. He stared up through the clear pad at Hanzo’s face. Made a face at him. Got no response. Wiggled around in his lap a bit. Still nothing. “Whatcha readin’?”

“It is not important,” Hanzo replied. He dropped his hand to Jesse’s hair, but kept reading.

“ _Uh_ -huh,” Jesse pouted, frowning. He tilted his head and started reading the tablet for himself - sideways and mirrored, Hanzo realized, which ought to have made it _extremely_ difficult for him. “’The Importance of Playing House in Childhood Development’?” Hanzo almost tossed the tablet to the other side of the room. “Aw, Hannybee,” Jesse grinned. “You readin’ up on what I said?”

“No!” Hanzo yelped, trying not to blush. And then, knowing it was useless, admitted sheepishly, “Yes?”

Jesse cocked his head and waited.

It was a miraculous trait of the cowboy’s - for all his friendly chatter, he knew when to be quiet. He was quiet now. Hanzo set the tablet aside, and started playing with Jesse’s hair. “I…have never spent much time with children. I do not…actually remember having much unstructured playtime during my childhood. Especially not after my mother…” he cleared his throat. “I do not remember playing house. I do not remember what it is supposed to teach.”

“It’s just playin’ pretend,” Jesse shrugged, reaching up to brush a lock of hair out of Hanzo’s face. “It’s how kids learn social skills. They practice bein’ adults, settin’ and establishin’ their own rules, and that lets them understand the rules that govern adult roles, get a grip on the predictability of certain social interactions, and helps them practice expressin’ and regulatin’ their own emotions.”

Hanzo stared at him. It was a far more succinct summation than the articles he’d been reading. “Where did you learn that?”

Jesse shrugged again, and folded his hands on his stomach, content now that he had Hanzo’s full attention. “Blackwatch. I was the youngest before Genji came along, so I was the one sent undercover anytime we needed someone in college. I couldn’t figure out how to do it at first. I didn’t know what I’s supposed to do or how to be. F’reeha was maybe five, so I used to play pretend with her all the time. Finally Ana and Dr Liao sat me down and explained it was like Squirt playin’ pretend. All I was doin’ was playin’ grown-up pretend.” His fingers moved up to graze Hanzo’s cheek. “There’s a lot more to it than that a' course, but in the broad strokes, that’s all it is. Most of us stop doin’ it when we get big, so it’s normal if it feels weird at first.”

Hanzo’s throat worked around his question. “Did you…suggest…that you and I ‘play house’ here… so that we could practice being a couple?”

“Would you be mad ‘f I said yes?”

Hanzo was more puzzled than upset. “But why?”

Jesse chewed his lip, thinking carefully about his answer. “Forgive me for sayin’ it, but I kinda get the impression you ain’t never had a boyfriend before. Am I right?”

Hanzo blushed faintly, but nodded.

“But your inclination leans that way, yeah? Toward men, I mean?”

Hanzo nodded again.

“Kay.” Jesse chewed his lip some more. “My first real boyfriend was a mark. While I was undercover. In a way it made it easier, cuz I genuinely liked him, and he could tell, and that made it easier to get information out of him. But it also played all kinds a’ hell with me personally. Emotionally, I mean. I felt guilty ‘bout lyin’ to him, questioned whether or not we should be investigatin’ him. ‘F I hadn’t had Jack and Ana watchin’ my back I woulda got all kinds a’ screwed up. It was only my second or third real undercover mission, and my first real crush, and learnin’ how to date, all at the same time…” He shook his head and fidgeted, eyes darting around before coming back to Hanzo. “I dunno what you and I got goin’ on, but I figured…maybe…if you wanna, we could use this time to figure it out. We’re undercover as a couple, so we could kinda take it for a test run, y’know? Without all the pressure of other people back at the base watchin’. We already know we _work_ well together, so we can take it real slow, and if we don’ like it we can go right back to still bein’ friends and still get the job done. An’ if it don’t work, we don’t have to take it back to Gibraltar with us. Don’t even have to tell anybody we tried. An if we _do_ take to it…” He shrugged. “We can figure that out as we go.”

Hanzo looked at him carefully, his expression both fascinated and worried. “What if…what if we do it wrong? What if…what if we _want_ to, but it doesn’t work?”

Jesse heard the ‘I’ in that ‘we’. “That’s the great thing about _play_ , sugar,” he grinned. “As long as we’re both havin’ fun, we _can’t_ do it wrong.”

“What if we mess it up before we’re through here?”

Jesse shrugged. “It’s four months away. I’ve had _marriage_ proposals in less time.”

Hanzo looked startled.

Jesse nodded, as if to say _I_ _have_. “Look. Sugar…” He sat up quickly and knelt on the couch alongside him, finding Hanzo’s hand with his own and lacing their fingers together. “Han and Joel are married. But Hanzo and Jesse ain’t even gone out on a date yet. So there’s three ways we can play this, an’ I’ll leave it up to you to decide whichever one you’re most comfortable with.” He held up a finger. “First way, we only do the mushy stuff in public, when we’re bein’ Han and Joel. Hanzo and Jesse stay all professional, all the time.” Hanzo frowned, as if he didn’t like that idea, and Jesse tried not to get his hopes up. He held up a second finger. “Second way, Han and Joel do the lovey-dovey stuff in public, and Hanzo and Jesse take the relationship thing for a test run, real slow - I’m talkin’ first dates and lots of kisses and hand-holdin’ and that kinda stuff.” That idea had potential, he could see. “Third way is, Han and Joel run all the time, twenty-four-seven, full romantic relationship, just…jump right in with both feet, hit the ground runnin’ and -”

“What if I mess that up?” Hanzo blurted. “All of them. What if I don’t know what to do?”

Jesse shrugged. “Then Joel’ll just remind people that Han comes from Japan, an’ y’all have different rules over there about affection in public an’ stuff.” He reached up and brushed Hanzo’s cheek again. “Jesse and Joel both know what they’re doin’, sugar. I c’n promise you.”

Hanzo opened his mouth, but he didn’t quite know how to phrase his concern. He looked down at their hands. Options two and three both held their appeal, and, judging by the attention he’d been getting the past week, Jesse had already slid into ‘Joel-mode’. But Hanzo?… “Hanzo… doesn’t…know how to be Han,” he admitted finally. “ _At all_.”

Jesse’d kinda had the feeling that was the problem, even back at the base.

“Does he want to?”

Hanzo nodded.

Jesse squeezed his hand. “That’s all Joel wants to know. Are Hanzo and Han both okay with lettin’ Jesse and Joel take the lead?”

Hanzo nodded again, morosely aware that they would _have_ to, since he certainly couldn’t.

Jesse’s face broke open in a smile, and he leaned forward, his eyes dropping to Hanzo’s lips.

Hanzo realized Jesse wanted a kiss. He realized that he liked the idea, and he liked both the idea that Jesse let him finish it at his own pace, and that, right here, in this house, in this town, away from all of their friends and colleagues, there was absolutely no one around to judge him for wanting it, or for taking it. He leaned in, closing the distance quickly. Instantly there was a flutter in his stomach, like butterflies on strings tied directly to his lips. They broke into flight the moment Jesse’s warm hands cupped his pulse, thumbs brushing his jaw, and instead of stuffing them back down, Hanzo let them fly free. He knew instinctively that Han would. He knew instinctively that Han _liked them_.

Hanzo liked them too.

Jesse let the kiss taper off after a minute or so, and Hanzo realized it felt right to let him do so, even though he liked the feel of Jesse’s hands on his skin. Jesse must have liked it, too - he left them there.

“D’I tell ya how pretty y’are today?”

Hanso’s brow wrinkled, and he shook his head. “No?”

“Shame. Cuz you’re lookin’ _real_ handsome today, Han.” He kissed him again softly.

Hanzo frowned - he _hoped_ it came through as playful. “Am I pretty or am I handsome?”

“You’re _pretty handsome_ ,” Jesse teased, paying special attention to Hanzo’s pouty lower lip. Hanzo made a note of _that_.

He kissed Jesse back. “ _That_ is a description I would have applied to _you_.”

“Oo, y’see that? You’re a natural,” Jesse grinned, going in for a third kiss.

Hanzo leaned into that one too, and then kept leaning, until he was pushing Jesse over. Jesse just grinned and rolled Hanzo down with him.

“Now _this_ ,” Jesse hummed contentedly, as they cuddled closer, “ _this_ we need to practice more often.”

Hanzo stopped. “Is - Are we not doing it right?”

“No no, we _are,_ ” Jesse hastened to reassure him. “We def’nitely _are_. It’s just. Y’know. Practice makes perfect.”

It took Hanzo a moment to get the joke. “I agree,” he said, snuggling in again. “We must be sure we get it right every time.”

Jesse grinned. “There we go.”

After a while:

“I _do_ have ice cream meltin’ in the kitchen…”

“It can wait,” Hanzo sighed, rolling into him a little bit tighter.

Jesse smiled. It really could.

**Author's Note:**

> I MEANT TO ASK: 
> 
> Would anybody be interested if I started a Tumblr? Sometimes I wanna write or just talk, but not necessarily fanfic


End file.
